Can you guess which line was Shane Victorino’s? The middle one. The top one belongs to Andres Torres and the bottom line to Drew Stubbs. However, if you asked the majority of people who they’d want on their team, many would answer Victorino.If he wasn’t Hawaiian and in a big market would Shane Victorino be a household name among baseball fans?

In 2010, Shane was kind of a man without a home. Over the course of the season, he hit in every spot in the lineup except for cleanup and 8th. The one spot where he seemed to put his best numbers together was in the leadoff spot while Jimmy Rollins was out or moved down.

In the leadoff spot, Victorino went .276/.345/.810 in 82 games. Perhaps, some of Victorino’s struggles can be attributed to the fact he couldn’t get comfortable in the lineup. That being said, he did set a new career-high in home runs.

My big gripe with Victorino this season was the fact claims to be a switch-hitter. However his struggles against right-handed pitchers this year were brutal.

Those differences are staggering. As good as Shane was against lefties, he was that bad against righties. Now I don’t think he should be a platoon guy, but at the same time, I wonder if Phillies coaches ever considered batting Shane exclusively from the right side just to check things out and see the results for a short period of time.

Victorino added another Gold Glove to his closest last week. As there are with many Gold Glove choices, this one came with a little scrutiny. Victorino is known around baseball for having a great glove, but once again I wonder if he wasn’t a known-name from the island of Hawaii would that be the case. Vic’s UZR/150 came in at a respectable 3.3. Not bad, but good for only 14th among qualified NL outfielders. A quick search on the list, and you would see the aforementioned Torres was tops in the NL at a whopping 24.8

When all was said and done Victorino put together a solid year, down from his 2008 and 2009 campaign, but solid nonetheless. However, I would not be surprised if Ruben Amaro Jr. attempts to move him this offseason.

He HAS to adjust, you’re right Dan. There was none of that last year, he continually rolled balls over to second base and was not a line-drive threat like he should be. When he’s working well, he’s hitting .285 and hitting hard liners into the gaps. After that contract he got homer-happy and started swinging for the fences at every turn. He doesn’t have to do that now, not sure why he still does.

I’m not getting the “Hawaiian” angle here. Victorino is a solid (not great) major league baseball player. I don’t think he’s overrated or underrated. Year in and year out, he does just about what we expect him to. Any player that’s been in the post season for four consecutive seasons (and popped a couple of key homeruns in 2008) will obtain some level of fame. Being known as a solid baseball player is a lot different than being a “household name”.

I expect more from Victorino than .259/.327/.410. It’s not like we really have any better options at this point (that don’t involve re-signing Werth and moving him to center, which won’t happen), but that’s not a good line.

Which gold glover had the better year Shane Victorino or Mark Teixeria who’s average was lower, different skillsets I know but Curtis Granderson hit 12 points lower with not much more power.

We’ve been spoiled by guys who can hit for (at least occasional) power, average, steal and score runs but not all guys can.

No doubt elements of Vic’s game as shown above were a disappointment but he made key contributions throughout the season and is debatably the best defensive everyday CF in the game. He deserves more than a passing grade.

Victorino: .259/.327/.429 (looks like his SLG was wrong in the article)
Teixeira: .256/.365/.481

This is why batting average can be deceiving. Teixeira had a much better year, in what was a down year for him as well.

And, with respect, Victorino’s defense is very overrated. He takes very poor routes to balls, and ends up having to dive/lunge for flyballs that would be routine for CFs, which is probably why he he gets credited for his defense, and why ML managers award him gold gloves. Speed does not equal defense.

Who on earth is debating sanely that Victorino is the best defensive CF in the game? Don’t let the erroneously-given Gold Glove fool you, Shane is a good-but-not great defensive CF, with a UZR rating of around 3 (good for 10th best in the majors), plus he’s aging and his routes to the ball are enigmatic-at-best.

Shane is a decent ballplayer, but not exceptional in any of his skills. Take off the homerism glasses and see him for what he is.

Let me clarify, pull up a list of the best defensive CFers and I don’t see many that beat Shane’s D.

I think we make the same point to an expect, he’s a decent player and he had a very decent season being masked by the low average, I won’t suggest his season was anything above a very decent season but a 6.2 to me is low for a guy who contributed more given his skillet than many other guys and certainly a more consistent day-to-day contributor than many others.

I think had an above average defensive year, and a below average offensive year. His #leading off were prettygood but he started to faulter leading into the post season. I really do not think he is a lead off guy, but what do you think of him leading him off and batting Rollins 5th, or Vic batting 5th and Rollins leading off. Or do you think Chooch can bat .300 in the fifth spot? could the line up be something like
Rollins / Vic
Polly
Chase
Ryan
Chooch
Vic / Rollins
Raul
Brown
pitcher

By all means, move him. In NLCS Game #6, his baserunning error in the 8th and his horrible at bat in the 5th (taps a ball back to the mound with on the second pitch with the bases loaded) killed the the Phillies The 3 year contract was a total mistake; he’s anopthetr one who has let success go to his head.

Andrers’ Torres ball in the 3rd inning of Game #6 was a tough play–no doubt. Not catching it helped to shift the momentum in that game (The Phillies didn’t have chan e to nurse their easrly lead and try to build on it). . A good defensive centerfielder (which Shane is) gets to the ball ; a great one catches it.